Michelle Grattan was speculating this morning on Fran’s Chat n’ Chew, that the fulsome confession out of Gitmo resident and terror mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed might turn the tables in Australian politics.
Ms Grattan’s theory was along the lines that having a real proven baddie hit the headlines at this time would remind the people that the global war on terror was real (and not a boardgame), and the display of a real live hairy-backed example of the genre would rekindle enthusiasm for the Howard government’s crumbling credibility on national security.
However, judging by early returns in the Organ of Freedom’s feedback forum, from where the title of this post is sourced, there’s general skepticism that the Hairy One, did everything that he’s confessing to.
Once again the faint trace of overblown Bush Administration hype is picked up by the sensitive nose of the average Aussie punter as the distinct whiff of bullshit.
It look’s like there’s no dividend in this story for Mr. Howard.
I could never understand how TV series like 24 could purport to show the value of torture because, rather than extract valuable information about ‘ticking bombs’ etc, I always took it as axiomatic that if you torture someone long enough they would confess to anything. Khalid’s case suggests that if you torture someone long enough they’ll confess to everything.
And if you do take seriously the revelation of Khalid not just as a ‘real proven baddie’ but as the person responsible for just about every actual and threatened terrorist attack in the past 6 years, it doesn’t so much support Howard by showing that the War on Terror is real as suggest that the War on Terror is over. Would the last one to leave turn out the lights.
(Or should that be would the last one to leave turn on the lights?)
I say tyhey keep torturing Khalid until he confesses to causing the train stoppages in Sydney this week.
Look if you torture a middle to upper level manager to keep applying for positions, especuially their own position, then their CV or resume will end up claiming credit for every project that crossed their desk at some time. Since most projects are a team effort the resume will neither be a truth or an untruth. The questions to answers will also end up being what the interviewer wants to hear. Team player, passionate about selling mobile phone plans to centrelink customers, ” I think outside the square”, etc etc.
Clearly Khalid eventually learnt the interviewers language and shaped his CV. Clearly he had some role in the sales, service, technical and backroom teams but just how much he achieved we’ll never know.
Indeed Anthony, my thoughts exactly. Now we have the actual perp of every known terorist outrage in the world for over ten years, it appears that the GWOT might tquieten down a bit perhaps? Or perhaps not.
The old Australian BS detectors are right on this one. I am very happy to say this, but the whole GWOT/threat to western civilisation meme has sunk, collapsed under the wieght of its own rhetorical bombast, and a failed war of choice in Iraq.
Sure he says he masterminded 9/11 and why wouldn’t he? But Bush got it wrong right from the start, because he’s a n unevolved human being, in every possible way
terified, cocky, little upstart, who now had more than one reason to go to war–‘on terror’ and secretly thought it was a great adventure.We’ll Shock and Awe ’em! a bit of Hollywood razzle dazzle. Except they weren’t shocked and awed they were fucking furious and have been ever since, and will be for a long time to come. Thanks alot. Mate. A wiser person would have gone underground and covert and got his man. Then gone onto examine real issues. Not provoke a vehement beast. It was only one or two men they needed to be after not thousands of innocent beings across two countries.